Now, me and this girl have a history.We were becoming very close friends and she broke up with her boyfriend for me(my original thought, though I think i may have just made her realise their relationship wasnt strong) around half a year ago and what resulted was a 3 week sexual relationship where I obviously had the stronger feelings and overwhelmed her until the point she said she does not want anything serious nor does she have any romantic feelings for me.( she had admitted to feeling something for me once or twice in the beginning of our 'relationship' though. )
Anyway we eventually decided to stay friends despite many incidents(kisses, and other stuff) that I pretty much started every time. Anyway we got over that phase and carried on being friends while drifting apart slowly until summer began where we pretty much stopped talking each other for weeks on end despite seeing each other a couple of times and acting like nothing had changed. She would never let me drift away completely though( I had decided that she was only bad for me and was trying to space myself from her).
Anyway she contacts me again yesterday and we end up arguing for around half an hour over how she thought I had been ignoring her and not treating her as a friend. I send a message apologising the next morning , and explain to her that im due in for an open heart operation that is quite high risk and i'm a little on edge. I also tell her its her who has the problem and not to call me until she realises that. She calls later that evening completely in tears and worried about me , it took me around 10 minutes just to get her to stop crying .We then had one of the best conversations since i've met her about life and we hung up as she was ready to go out but on a good note though she was still upset with the news. now heres the thing, around an hour later i see a message on my phone from her saying 'I love you!'. I send her back that I love her too and nothing else is said.
Also It is the first time she has sincerely told me that(sober, though she has only said it once while drunk) and she is generally very reluctant to show or let people know her feelings. She represses herself a lot.
I'm sorry for all the reading but I just felt that to answer the question well, it would be good to know the nature of the situation. What do you think she meant by that and was I right in my reply? Any advice or input would be greatly appreciated.